5 family members killed when plane crashes in New York

MASONVILLE, N.Y. (AP) — Five members of a family from Georgia who were visiting Cooperstown, New York, for a baseball tournament died when their small plane crashed in a wooded area of upstate New York, authorities said Monday.

The single-engine Piper PA-46 crashed around 2 p.m. Sunday after taking off from Albert S. Nader Regional Airport in Oneonta, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.

The wreckage of the plane and the remains of the five people on board were found Sunday night in the town of Masonville, the New York State Police said in a news release. Drones, all-terrain vehicles and helicopters were used to search for the remote crash site, which was about 125 miles northwest of New York City.

The victims were identified as Roger Beggs, 76; Laura VanEpps, 43; Ryan VanEpps, 42; James VanEpps, 12; and Harrison VanEpps, 10.

The family was returning to Georgia after attending a tournament in Cooperstown, the home of the Baseball Hall of Fame, police said.

The plane was headed to Cobb County International Airport in Atlanta with a fueling stop in West Virginia when it crashed, the state police said.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said on the social media platform X that he and his family were praying for the victims’ families and offered “our deepest condolences to all who knew and loved them.”

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.

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